Welcome

Hi there and welcome to my blog! I'm Allison, also known as Aquabel in some groups. I live in Nova Scotia, Canada. I've been addicted to PSP and tagging for about 4 years. I love creating tags and sets, so thought I'd create a blog to display some of my creations, as well as anything else that may tickle my fancy :) I hope you enjoy your stay!

Freebie TOU

I have some freebies on my blog for you, FTU Cluster Frames, templates, masks and word art. Anyone is welcome to download and use. But please remember all of my items are for Personal Use only. They are not for Commercial Use, nor are they to be shared in forums or groups. Forums and Groups are welcome to use my stuff (and I'm thrilled for them to do so), but please redirect members to my blog to download the items. Tutorial writers are also welcome to use my items as well. Just please direct people to my blog to download. Thank you! And I hope you enjoy using my goodies, and have fun with them :)

Unless otherwise stated, I have used a Drop Shadow with settings of: 2,2,30,5, color black.
For sharpening resized tube/elements, I have used Unsharp Mask with settings of: Radius 3, Strength 30, Clipping 3, Luminance Only unchecked.

Let's get started!

Open a new image 650 x 650, flood fill with white.
Add a new layer, Select All. Open Paper 10, copy and Paste Into Selection.
Open DD_WinterMask_10, apply mask. Merge layer group.

Open Frame 2 and copy and paste as a new layer, sharpen.
Duplicate the frame, and merge the original and duplicated frame. Add a drop shadow.

Open Element 63, copy and paste as a new layer above the frame layer. Resize by 85%, and move slightly to the right.
Change the Blend Mode to screen.
Open Element 57, copy and paste as a new layer above all layers.

Open your tube, and copy and paste as a new layer above all layers.
Resize your tube to your liking, sharpen. Place in the middle of the frame so the upper body will appear as if she's coming out of the frame.
This next bit is a bit complicated, but not too hard once you get the hang of it.
Duplicate tube layer. Apply a Gaussian Blur of 5 to duplicated layer. With original tube layer active, Select All - Float - Invert Selection.
Make your duplicated tube layer active, hit Delete, then Select None. Apply a Blend Mode of Soft Light to your duplicated tube layer.

Duplicate your duplicate tube layer, change the Blend Mode of this second duplicate layer to Screen, and change the opacity to 30%.
Now merge all 3 layers, but do so in this order:
Merge the Soft Light layer with your original tube layer.
Merge the Screen layer with the original tube layer.
Rename this layer Upper, and duplicate it.
Apply a drop shadow to the Upper layer.
Rename the duplicate layer to Lower, and using your Layer Palette, move the Lower layer just below the Frame layer.
Now hide your Upper layer.
Make your Lower layer the active layer, and use your Erase tool to erase all parts of the tube that are visible below the Frame.
Now unhide your Upper layer, and again use your Erase tool to erase the parts of the Upper tube showing below the Frame. But also carefully erase the lower parts of the Upper tube layer so that the leaves of the Frame are showing over your tube. Be careful not to erase the edges of the Upper tube as you still want your drop shadow to show. When you're done, it should appear like your tube is popping out of the Frame.

Now that we have the Frame and tube place, it's time to add the elements.
For the elements, resize each element according to the percentages below. Use your Pick Tool (or Image --> Free Rotate) to rotate the elements to your desired positions. When necessary, duplicate, mirror, sharpen, add a drop shadow, and use my tag as a guide for placement.
Just a hint: I find it best to paste your element onto your image, rotate your element to the desired angle, resize, then sharpen. This order gives a crisper, sharper image (as opposed to resizing then rotating).

Add copyright.
Add your name. I used Font Dobkin Script in white, with an Eye Candy Gradient Glow of width 3, colour green (colour from one of the elements to match), and a drop shadow (with opacity of 15% this time).

Delete your white background layer, and save as a png.

DONE!!

I hope you've enjoyed this tut.

If you have any questions or find a mistake, please feel free to send me an email.

Also, I'd love to see any tags made using this tut, so again, please
feel free to email me your creations, or post the link to your tag in
the comments below.

Open Frame 3, copy and paste as a new layer, above mask layer, resize by 80%, sharpen, duplicate. Add a drop shadow to original wreath layer.

Open Element 19, copy and paste as a new layer above wreath layers, resize by 70%, sharpen, mirror. Place to the left, add a drop shadow. See my tag for placement of all elements.

Open Element 1, copy and paste as a new layer above the tree layer, resize by 80%, sharpen. Place to the lower left. Duplicate, mirror. Add a drop shadow to both layers, but change the opacity to 10% for these 2 snow layers.

Open Element 6, copy and paste as a new layer, resize by 30%, sharpen. Place behind the snow layers, to the left. Duplicate layer, mirrow, apply a drop shadow (back to original drop shadow with opacity of 30%).
Paste Element 6 again, resize by 30%, place behind the snow layers, above and to the right of the first Element 6 layer. Duplicate, mirror, apply a drop shadow to both layers.
Paste Element 6 again time, resize by 30%, place behind the first snow layer, to the bottom, see my tag for placement. Duplicate, mirror, apply a drop shadow to both layers.
Paste Element 6 again one more time, resize by 30%, place behind the first snow layer, to the bottom centre, see my tag for placement. Duplicate, mirror, apply a drop shadow to both layers.

Open Element 62, copy and paste as a new layer, place above the tree layer, see my tag for placement. Add a drop shadow.

Open Element 55, copy and paste as a new layer, resize by 30%, sharpen, place above tree and bush layers, to the lower left. Copy and paste 3 times, and place each layer just peeking out from under the snow and leaf layers. Duplicate all, mirror, and apply a drop shadow to all layers.

Open Element 30, resize by 90%, place above the tree layer, in the upper half of the tag, see my tag for placement.

Open Element 58, resize by 90%, place above all layers and in about the middle of the tag.

See the image below for help in placement.

Copy and paste your tube, resize by 48% (or other percentage to your liking if you use a different tube), sharpen. Place above all other layers, just to the right. Duplicate tube layer. Apply a Gaussian Blur of 5 to duplicated layer. With original tube layer active, Select All - Float - Invert Selection. Make your duplicated tube layer active, hit Delete, then Select None. Apply a Blend Mode of Soft Light to your duplicated tube layer. Duplicate your duplicate tube layer, change the Blend Mode of this second duplicate layer to Screen, and change the opacity to 30%. Apply a drop shadow to your original tube layer.

Copy and paste the following elements as new layers, resizing with the indicated percentages. Duplicate and mirror where applicable, using my tag for placement. Sharpen and apply drop shadows to all.
Element 9: 50%
Element 15 and 24: 17%
Element 4: 30%
Element 45: 45%
Element 28 and 36: 15%

Add proper copyright.

Add your name.

I used Font Champignon in white, with an Eye Candy Gradient Glow of width 3, colour teal (colour from one of the elements to match), and a drop shadow (with opacity of 15% this time).

Delete your white background layer, and save as a png.

DONE!!

I hope you've enjoyed this tut.

If you have any questions or find a mistake, please feel free to send me an email.

Also, I'd love to see any tags made using this tut, so again, please feel free to email me your creations, or post the link to your tag in the comments below.

This tag was made using a beautiful kit by Dee Mastrangelo of Dees'Sign Depot. The kit is an Inspired By kit, inspired by the artwork of Alicia Mujica, and is available at CDO. Also check out Dee's blog, Dees'Sign Depot to see all her gorgeous kits!

This first tag was made using the awesome artwork of Elias Chatzoudis, available here and a wonderful kit called Jolly Days by Just So Scrappy, available here.

This next tag was made with the artwork beautiful of VeryMany, available at PFD, and a fantastic kit called Christmas Wishes by Indigo Designs, available at Pickleberry Pop. I also used a great mask by Dee Mastrangelo, available here.

Finally, this tag was made using the awesome artwork of Zlata M, available at PFD and a beautiful kit called Pink Christmas by Tiny Turtle Designs, available here.

I'm loving being part of Dee Mastrangelo's CT Team, it's a great team, and Dee is wonderful...as are her kits!

So I got to play with one of Dee's Inspired By kits yesterday, one inspired by the artwork of Alicia Mujica. However, to be a bit different, and show the diversity of the kit, I used this pretty tube by Nocturne which I thought fit the kit perfectly, available at PFD.

I have a few tags to show off tonight but will do so in a couple posts.

First I have this cute tag I made with an adorable tube by Maryline Cazenave, available at http://www.cdoestore.com/, and a cute kit by Kristin Aagard called Santa's Little Helper, available at Scrap Orchard, here.